By RAY BENTON
Leader sports editor
The Cabot boys finished third and the girls first in the Walmart Invitational on Tuesday at Panther Stadium; while the Sylvan Hills girls finished second at Jessieville in a meet it used mainly to find depth rather than win.
Lady Bear coach Grover Garrison didn’t even enter a team in the 4x400-meter relay, the event that the SH girls have the fastest time in the state, and still only lost to Joe T. Robinson by 2.5 points, 113-110-5.
Sylvan Hills held 7.5-point lead going into the final event, the 4x400. Robinson had to at least finish second to win the meet, and did one better, taking first place with a time of 4:34.40. It’s a decent time that beat second-place Magnet Cove by more than 15 seconds, but it was still almost 26 seconds slower than Sylvan Hills’ best time this season.
The host school finished a distant third with 63.5 points.
At Cabot, the Panther boys won the 4x800 and 4x400-meter relays. The girls’ only event wins were the 800- and 1,600-meter races.
Sophomore Lady Panther Lauren Turner won the 800 with a time of 2:22.00, beating out teammate Casey Gore for first place.
Gore won the 1,600-meter race with a time of 5:22.27, while Conway’s Sarah Grace Meek was second and Cabot’s Brayden Giesler finished third.
Despite having the top two finishers in the 800, Cabot finished second to Conway in the 4x800 relay. Giesler and Erin Bowie finished third and fourth respectively in the 3,200.
